As predicted two years ago, the Waiheke Resources Trust (WRT) will be granted a lease over the old Oneroa Bowling Club building that was refurbished at a cost to Waiheke ratepayers of over $400,000 by the first Waiheke Local Board. It was to become a building for the use of all community groups after it was trashed by the outgoing Oneroa Bowling Club committee chaired by a man who was, co-incidentally, Paul Walden’s campaign manager when he was elected to the Board.It was obvious two years ago that Walden intended to hand the building over to the Waiheke Resources Trust so that the public could pay for what is now effectively the Green Party HQ on Waiheke. WRT is run by John Stansfield, partner of a Green Party list MP. Both Stansfield and his partner mentor the ‘Essentially Waiheke’ Party that runs the Board. The Trust is entirely funded by the ratepayer through a series of grants and fees from the Waiheke Local Board totalling over $400,000. No material benefit to the Waiheke community has been derived from the funding handed to the Trust.The granting of a community lease gives the WRT a rent free building, annual ratepayer subsidised maintenance of only $1000, a new commercial kitchen, a bar, new restrooms, new carpets and curtains, and wired for the broadband and all the latest in telecommunications. Despite the huge ratepayer investment in the building it will return no money to the ratepayer.No wonder four other groups wanted the lease. The groups to miss out are the Toy Library, Hauraki Conservation Trust (although they might be given Ostend Hall – more on that tomorrow), Headland Sculpture on the Gulf, and the Steiner Trust. It is the pick of the remaining community halls soon to be taken out of community hands and leased to crony groups who support the Essentially Waiheke Party. One wonders what will become of Ostend Market.In truth the other groups never stood a chance as I’ve been saying in various blog posts over the last two years. It became obvious this was to be the outcome desired by Walden when he wanted to revise the Alison Park Reserve Management Plan. The only possible reason for revising the plan was to de-couple the building from the park. A lengthy, expensive and ultimately sham consultation process had to be gone through for Walden to achieve his ultimate purpose and now the Green Party has its new HQ.The OBC building is just the latest in ratepayer owned and funded buildings handed over to groups that support and promote the Greens and the Essentially Waiheke Party. The White House is leased to Waiheke Radio for Green Party and Local Board propaganda purposes; the old library space was supposed to be a centre for the arts but instead got leased to Waiheke Adult Literacy, a group run by supporters of the Board and now the OBC is to become the de facto Green Party HQ.The next domino to fall is the Ostend Hall but more of that tomorrow.It is so sad for the island that the Greens have introduced such divisive politics into the community. They have effectively made Waiheke into a ‘them v us’ place with favoured community groups being given ratepayer funded goodies for free and all others left out in the cold.

"There's a sense that there is a culture of cronyism and corruption and incompetence"
- Norman J Ornstein

Reply

Ken Edwards

24/5/2016 04:48:03 pm

As a Past President of Oneroa Bowling Club, I am well aware of the plundering and final destruction of this club by my successor who you correctly say marketed Paul Walden's bid for the local board. Although puzzling, it's a side issue. There is clearly a political stream intent on consolidating an environmental front on the island. It includes all of the local board, the resources trust with its wider affiliations to tree huggers and the Green Party, the Gulf News, and other journalists in the island media such as Diane Worthy at The Marketplace, Radio Waiheke and its humbug island affairs team.

It should therefore came as no surprise if a quality facility has been forfeited by the local board to its mates. If you believe that the aggregation of power and substantial funding on the island should go to one grouping, then do nothing. Incidentally wasn't John Stansfield of the Waiheke Resources Trust and partner of Green List MP, Denise Roach, the census officer before the last island elections? 'All in all it's just another brick....'.

Reply

PS

25/5/2016 10:03:33 am

Waitakere and Waiheke are working together (another Green board hui this month, will they charter a helicopter ?) using the same techniques. Ecomatters (Waitakere's version of Waiheke Resources Trust) has local board revenue of over $1.2 million per annum. Their website says they deliver campaigns. -#Love your Water, # Love your Harbour # Love your Food, #love your Bags (Yep Roche came over and stood outside our grocery store handing out free reusable bags). They deliver community engagement in the form of planting days and door knocking and festivals to educate the public. The branding for Ecomatters is a large iconic picture with white reversed out sans serif font, as per the Greens campaign #Love New Zealand. The Trustee's include co-owner of the Ad Agency for Labour and previously the Greens and our own board members. The project in the North Shore is #love your bays. I'm not loving any of it. - # love democracy # love independent decisionmaking, # love independent media # spend our rates on community infrastructure & services not educating us with our own money